In the Internet, informational servers provide selected information to web browsers, which are typically associated with an individual. The browser may be configured by the individual to specify a homepage and save content links as bookmarks. A homepage or main page is the Universal Resource Locator (URL), or local file, that automatically loads when a web browser starts and when the browser's “home” button is activated. The term is also used to refer to the front page, webserver directory index, or main web page of a website. A bookmark is a pointer to a web page URL that acts as a shortcut by the web browser to access the web page.
Currently, an individual must proceed through a series of steps to access desired web content. For example, if an individual is in a store and would like to determine what products are on sale the individual would first search, using an Internet search tool such as Google™ or Yahoo™, for the main page of the store. From that URL, the individual would select appropriate hyperlinks to obtain the selected web page of interest. If the individual would like to comparison shop for a selected product, he or she would then access the main pages of competitors and obtain selected web pages reflecting the prices of the product. As can be seen from the example, the individual would perform a number of steps to obtain, from multiple competitors, comparable prices for the product.
The Internet does have search engines available to collect, from multiple vendors, prices for a selected product but these search engines still require multiple steps to be performed by the user. The user would, for example, need to locate the main page for the search engine and enter appropriate parameters for the search query.
Global Positioning System (GPS) and other location/presence-aware portable devices running Internet browser applications have been used to facilitate user access of web content. In one product, web content is pushed to the user as the user's physical location changes. For example, as the user walks down a street content, such as coupons and lunch menus, is pushed to the user's wireless communication device from spatially nearby vendors. However, the content pushed to the device is not based on personal preferences or a personal profile of the user.
In another context, set top boxes for cable TV networks can be used for electronic commerce. Under the Open Cable Application Platform Internet Protocol Multimedia Source (OCAPIMS) and Packet Cable protocols (now called Tru2way by the trade), personal information (e.g., apparel sizes, clothing preferences, socioeconomic profile, and the like) stored at a customer's set top box is used to filter and configure sales advertisements provided to the customer through the customer's television, autorecognize the customer when contacting the set top box from an external communication device, and provide the personal information to the customer via the external communication device.
There is a need for an automated network architecture for providing web content to a user based on the physical location of the user.